2001 Ford F-150 - Forced Entry

F-150 Pushed to the Next Class

By Gary Blount, Photography by Joseph Dowling

Sport Truck, October 01, 2004

Reaction to action sets many things in motion that you wouldn't expect. Action can come from many things, negative or positive. The thing that will set your life apart from these actions affecting you negatively is how you deal with the things that surround you. Sometimes it's hard not to react when emotions are involved, but either way, in most cases, your reaction to the action will determine if things that affect your life will be negative or positive. No matter the result, life will still go on and things work out. Maybe that's why some people believe in the saying "Everything happens for a reason."

Case in point is the owner of this '01 Ford F150. Charlie Esparza of Pasadena, Texas, went to a show put on by Vertically Challenged called the Roll Out 2K3 last year. At that point, Charlie had made some mods, but nothing major to speak of. An Air Ride Technologies suspension system and shaved tailgate were the only mods made to the Ford when it was entered in the show. With a stock interior, stereo, and color, Charlie knew his truck would be entered in the Street class.

ActionUnfortunately, the judges at Roll Out 2K3 thought the shaved tailgate was too much for the Street class and pushed him into the Wild class. You never know, maybe classification is done on a sliding scale. If that's the case, it makes you wonder how the show turnout was. Of course, the truck wasn't ready for a Wild class and hardly got any attention at all for the class it was entered in.

ReactionHell-bent on making good of this situation, Charlie spent the next few months making his truck worthy of the Wild class. The first stop was to Ekstensive Metal Works, where the techs tore out the Air Ride Technologies four-link system and fitted Slam Specialties airbags on all four corners. Bill at Ekstensive also fabbed the new suspension with the company's two-link setup and Panhard bar to get 8 inches of airbag lift out back and 6 inches up front. Chassis Tech switches and Digital gauges control all the pressurized molecules. Half-inch line supplies the 'bags plenty of volume, and at 200 psi, the suspension reacts to the air valves rapidly. This allows the Blue Oval to lay not only frame but also tranny and other below-frame components.

Wheeltubs and cleared-out wheelwells provide room for the 22-inch Alba signature Jesse James rims wrapped in Pirelli 295/30R22 Scorpion hides. With the rim and tire package tucked all nice and neat into the wheelwells, it was time to address the paint. Charlie had taken his build to a local painter to have some color added to the truck, but once again, an unforeseen action took place. The shop didn't paint the truck at the right caliber, so a visit to Custom Creations in Pasadena, Texas, was in order. The truck was stripped down to bare metal to get rid of the flaw-filled paint, and PPG pigment was shot over the freshly prepped carcass. A two-tone black-over-red paint scheme was laid down over the body, which tapers to a streamlined finish up front. A silver stripe fuses the two opposing colors together and accents the swooping shape of the body lines.

The interior was going to need some attention to hold its own in the Wild class, so Custom Creations was employed to get it up on the pipe. The stock plastic was pulled out and the dash scrapped. A fiberglass dash was remolded to replace the stock plastic component. All the other plastic was hand-sanded and prepped for color; this included door panels, seatbacks, A-pillar, and cab inserts. This took a lot of man-hours, which ran the build close to its next scheduled show. David Valencie of Custom Creations pounded down a couple Red Bulls and got to work hand-molding a fiberglass center console for the truck. Just six hours later, the still-soft console was curing in the cab of the Blue Oval. The console was rushed together so it could make its intended debut at the Spring Break Jam show, where the truck would later take First Place in the Wild Ford class. Adding to the interior touches, Katzkin seat covers accent the custom interior with natural gray, which matches the center console.

Alliance Car Audio installed an Eclipse 8053 head unit with a separate DV3103 hide-away DVD player. The amp housings on the three JL Audio amps were removed and chromed, and they pump out 1,100 watts to two sets of Utopia 6-1/2-inch splits and two 8-inch 'woofers.

Charlie was thrown into a class where there was no way his truck was going to be recognized as a decent build. This motivated him to take his build to the next level, where he won he's first competition. Maybe things do happen for a reason.

See all 10 Photos

By Gary Blount

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